Days out with returning clients are always a pleasure; catching up with what’s been going on since we last met and sharing notes on our local wildlife is much more an afternoon with old friends, and in this case doubly nice as Mike’s a photographer and uses Nikon gear 😉 I’d just had 3 days leading a photography holiday and getting a good look at a Sigma 150-600mm lens on a Nikon body, and Mike arrived with a Nikon 200-500mm lens on the same body that I use for wildlife photography so I’ve enjoyed some hands-on experience of the lenses that I’m (still) trying to decide between, as well as getting first-hand opinions on the lenses from photographers using them 🙂 First stop was for an obligingly still subject, and Mike and Maggie both had Bee Orchids in front of their cameras. Our riparian woodland walk brought flycatching Grey Wagtails, Great Spotted Woodpeckers calling from the trees and a family party of Blackcaps with both adults feeding recently fledged young. A Common Buzzard was soaring over the trees as we headed on to our picnic spot and the first very light spots of rain started to fall…

As we had our picnic, overlooking the North Sea with Gannets and Fulmars soaring over it and Grey Seals bottling just offshore the rain started to intensify and the breeze was strengthening. Heading on we watched at least 19 Avocets, as Shelduck babies seemed intent on doing their own thing and wandering away from the protective aggression of their parents. Then the Grey Herons began to arrive and were lining up on the bank and watching the ducklings. Each time a heron flew it was mobbed by Avocets and Lapwings until eventually they all flew off together and disappeared behind a reedbed. Still the rain and the breeze intensified until finally we decided that trying to see anything in the gloom of dusk was a losing battle, although not as much of a battle as it would have been if we’d been out today and wrestling with Storm Hector…

At this time of the year, I tend to be out with clients on several consecutive days. Client-free days give me a chance to catch up with paperwork, ‘phone calls, admin tasks etc. but that isn’t what I most enjoy about work 🙂 So, at 6pm the evening before an office day last week, I was really happy to get a ‘phone call from one of the accommodation providers who we work closely with “We’ve got some guests staying. They’ve just had two full days on the Farne Islands but they’d like another wildlife activity for tomorrow. Can you do anything for them?”

So, that’s how I found myself with an unexpected birdwatching mini-safari. I collected Henk and Marianne from Seahouses…and the rain started (bit of a theme throughout Britain so far this summer). Decision time; head towards Holy Island, or head south from Seahouses and focus our efforts on the mid Northumberland coast? I quickly weighed up the two options and we headed south…and out of the rain 🙂 The morning seemed to fly by and, just short of four hours later, I was returning them after a morning that produced Short-eared Owlquartering a rough field, Bar-tailed Godwit heading south high overhead, Little Terns back at their mainland colony, two stunning adult Little Gulls roosting among the Arctic Ternson the beach, an abundance of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks,and more Pyramidal Orchids than I’ve ever seen before (as well as Beeand Northern Marsh Orchids).

Wednesday was a trip that I’d been looking forward to for some time. Syd is a regular client, and always very entertaining, and this time around his son Gavin was booked with him as well, for a Farne Islands safari.

With plenty of comments on Twitter in the weeks leading up to the trip, we were all praying for good sea conditions for the day. The forecast suggested that the afternoon could be a bit wet so I thought about visiting Staple Island instead of Inner Farne, before satisfying myself that it would stay dry for us in the afternoon and sticking with my original plan of walking along the dunes at Newton in the morning, and catching the 1pm boat to Inner Farne. The morning walk produced lots of Skylarks andMeadow Pipits as well as Common Blue Butterflies andNorthern Marsh, Pyramidal andBee Orchids. The tern colony was a hive of activity, with the Arctic Terns bringing food to their chicks and some Little Ternsengaging in some late season breeding activity. While we were there, the terns kept lifting from the dunes in a ‘dread’ but the source of their concern wasn’t immediately obvious. Myself and the wardens commented that it was what we would expect if a Peregrinewas passing over, but scanning the sky overhead didn’t produce the menacing shape of that particular predator. Eventually we did spot a raptor, although not an expected one, as a Marsh Harrier flew south along the fields inland from the terns. After having our lunch stop in the shadow of Bamburgh Castle, we took the short drive to Seahouses. Approaching Monk’s House Pool, Syd and Gavin had the bird of the day as a Hobbyflew north over the roadside fields.

We boarded Glad Tidings IV for the journey across to the islands and sat next to local birder TC, who had watched all of the hirundines in Seahouses start alarming…just a few minutes before the Hobbywas between Seahouses and Bamburgh. After the sailing around the islands, with their Grey Seals, Guillemots, Razorbills, Puffins, Kittiwakes, Fulmars, Shags andCommon, Sandwich andArctic Terns, we landed on Inner Farne and Gavin concentrated on photographing Puffins. We were ‘treated’ (if that’s the right word…) to an example of just how cruel nature can be as a Kittiwake chick wandered away from it’s nest and towards the edge of the ledge. It turned back from the edge, made it’s way unsteadily back to the nest, and was promptly tossed over the edge of the cliff by the adult! As it landed on the next ledge down, it was attacked and killed by 2 juvenile Shags in front of a group of horrified onlookers.

After nearly 2 hours on Inner Farne, we boarded Glad Tidings for the journey back to the mainland…and the first few drops of rain fell as we reached the top of the steps on the harbour 🙂